Messages

1951

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Blowoff tube vs. airlock. Does it affect bitterness?

« on: December 18, 2009, 08:13:44 am »

I was thinking about this thread at about 7am this morning when I was doing the second blowoff jar exchange this week from my Old Ale (that ironically was overfilled *yes*, no conical this time  )

If you purposefully overfill a carboy to induce blowoff, won't the yeast loss potentially be detrimental?  Judging by the slurry I have dumped out of the blowoff jars on this old ale, I've lost at least a cup to 1.5 cups of medium density slurry. 

That's why I wonder if a bucket or conical where you can just skim the braun hefe off is a better vehicle for this practice? 

1952

Ingredients / Re: Oops... wanted Munich but ordered "Caramel Munich"

« on: December 17, 2009, 03:27:41 pm »

definitely read what hamiltont linked and decide for yourself, but I personally would prefer caramunich over c-60L in that recipe, and definitely add the munich as well - the two are not mutually exclusive.

1953

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Dec 16 - Dec 22?

« on: December 17, 2009, 02:48:10 pm »

No brewing this weekend - all my ferm space is taken up for the next 1-2 weeks or so.

Jever way of hopping, 45-50 IBU's. 

please explain.

I'm using 30 lbs of Maris Otter and a lb of CaraMunich for the mash

how low is your efficiency?? I use less grain than that for 12gal of my 1.064 IPA, either that or your definition of low gravity is about the same as bonjours!

1954

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: worried my fermentation may be stuck early

« on: December 16, 2009, 02:34:20 pm »

sounds like you did everything okay - are you positive your thermometer is reading properly?  have you calibrated it recently?

I would expect that grain bill to have no problems attenuating very well with US-05 given a 60 min 153df mash.

1955

The Pub / Re: Eye Opening Documentary

« on: December 16, 2009, 10:05:17 am »

What needs to happen is to end the blame game and name calling that too many of these conversations engender.

Hope I don't jinx this, but I think this thread is evidence that we can do that from time to time 

1956

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Blowoff tube vs. airlock. Does it affect bitterness?

« on: December 16, 2009, 07:32:50 am »

6.5 gallon carboys could become an endangered species! 

I would think that buckets are much more useful to removing the braun hefe than hoping the krausen is pushed out, no?

1957

The Pub / Re: What do you like besides homebrew

« on: December 15, 2009, 06:22:43 pm »

My brother and I have talked about getting a two person scull for exercise.  I think that sounds like fun.

make sure you take lessons.  a lot of lessons.

I rowed for 6 years - it looks like its easy,  but to really make it enjoyable and get a good workout, you will need some coaching, some more than others.

Also, get on a concept II erg and row a few K and see how it is first 

1958

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Dry Hopping a IIPA

« on: December 15, 2009, 03:34:23 pm »

If you are going to dryhop an aged beer,
I think it best to bulk age it, and then 10 days before packaging...dryhop.  The fresher the better.

+1 - that's what I always do with the 2 annual beers that I actually do a secondary for and then *gulp* bottle.

otherwise, its keghopping, but that is a whole nother animal...

1959

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Blowoff tube vs. airlock. Does it affect bitterness?

« on: December 15, 2009, 03:31:11 pm »

very interesting stuff - I'd be really interested to hear how babalu's experiment turns out especially.  I make some great pils, but I always get dinged for the bittering being too harsh relative to commercial examples - perhaps this is it?

while Kai pointed out that many german brewers do this, how many american craft brewers do?  Is it a common thing?  I'll ask our local brewer, but am curious what other folks have heard?

1960

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Dec 2 - Dec 8?

« on: December 15, 2009, 12:12:50 pm »

I hope to brew the pils I couldn't brew last weekend when my water pipes were frozen!

hmmm... never had that problem Denny.  It was 72df yesterday when I brewed  

1961

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: 1007 for a Barleywine?

« on: December 15, 2009, 11:51:24 am »

mmm that sounds tasty...

1962

All Grain Brewing / Re: Partigyle - split the mash or all first for the main, all second for the small?

« on: December 15, 2009, 10:20:16 am »

actually, yeah, its about dead on.  I guess I am just used to my smaller beers where I know I will "gain" 12-15 points over the boil, but being that this is so much denser, the 'gain' is much larger. duh!

I ended up with just shy of 6g in the fermentor, and I started with an 8g boil, and that math works out almost perfectly...especially if you use 1.106 as the OG.

1963

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Whatcha Brewin' this week -- 2009 Dec 2 - Dec 8?

« on: December 15, 2009, 09:08:56 am »

You're going to be pooped! 

pooped is an understatement - started at 8am yesterday morning - all the equipment was put away and wort aerated and pitched at 8:15pm.  couple of house chores, a quick sandwich and I hit the showers, then bed.  If you ever dream of opening a brewery, do what I just did first!

Fell short on the gravity of the old ale cause I accidentally added a half gal too much to the sparge and was too tired and too late to boil another half hour.

Quick peek at the fermenters this morning before work - everything (barleywine, ESB, Old Ale) is rocking away at 64df.  Life is good.

 

1964

All Grain Brewing / Re: Partigyle - split the mash or all first for the main, all second for the small?

« on: December 15, 2009, 08:18:20 am »

well, I did this (and an Old Ale) yesterday and had a great time, but I doubt I'll be doing a partigyle and another batch in one day - I am beat today.

anyhow, I nailed the Barleywine - 1.104-6 actually, which was well over what I'd wanted (1.095ish) but that is okay.  ~100 IBUs, it will be yummy I'm sure, just will put you under the table in one pint.  Weird, b/c when I tested the first running as I was vorlaufing, I got 1.080 (just under 20 brix) which corresponds to kai's chart, but there's no way I boiled off enough in 90 minutes to get up to 1.104.

for the ESB, the second runnings tested ~1.035, so I added a 1/2lb of c-60, 1/4lb victory, 2lbs of basemalt (MO) and a lb of carapils (to counteract the 'thinness').  I miscalculated on my water addition temp, so I ended up 'mashing' for 25 min at 147, but the main mash was 154 so I expect it to be 'okay'.  I ended up 1.052 which was right where I wanted to be - the wort tasted very yummy.

The one thing that really puzzled me was the amount of protein silt that I had to vorlauf out with the second runnings.  Also, there was an absolute ton of cold break for the small beer.  All in, I think I liked doing the big beer this way - just gotta get a better handle of efficiencies/ratio to end up on the right gravity.

1965

Beer Recipes / Re: Hibernation Old Ale now with Recipe

« on: December 15, 2009, 08:02:58 am »

well, I brewed this yesterday after completing my barleywine/ESB partigyle.  I don't know that I will be tagging together essentially 3- brews like that again - I am beat tired today. 

anyhow, I don't know how I did this, but I ended up screwing up and adding a half gallon too much at some point to the sparge and wound up collecting almost 8.5gal.  So I ended up 1.071 instead of 77 so I guess I'll end up around 7% instead of 7.5-8%. Eh, I don't really like the really boozy beers as much anyway, maybe this was meant to happen...

However, the mash and boiling wort smelled absolutely fantastic, exactly what I was looking for - I have high hopes for this one later in the year.